


The Specters and the Ghost

by iamthegps



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Ezra and Sabine are a match made in Scary Teen Heaven, Gen, Kallus is still a dick but he's a dick who loves his kid, Kanan and Kallus try to co-parent and it is Extremely Awkward, because he is A Dad Who Tries But Only Sorta Succeeds, every day is what the fuck was I thinking day for Kallus, sometimes you find a kid and just keep it, this will not be a total series rewrite
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-13 01:41:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18022406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamthegps/pseuds/iamthegps
Summary: Seven years ago, Alexsandr Kallus caught a little boy trying to pick his pocket, so he adopted him. As one does. Now Ezra Bridger is a teenage Imperial Security Bureau trainee with an ax to grind and one hell of a secret to keep. All he wants to do is fly under the radar and stay out of trouble. Too bad the Force keeps getting in the way...Ch 1: Ezra Bridger finally finds the man of his dreams. This really only causes him problems.





	The Specters and the Ghost

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea where this AU came from except that I got this random picture in my head of Ezra in an ISB uniform and 2000 words later here we are. I tried to keep both Ezra and Kallus in character as much as possible while still making allowances for their altered relationship (and upbringing, in Ezra's case). There will be more chapters; some of them will be based on canon episodes and some I'll make up, but like I said in the tags, this won't be a total series rewrite. I'll probably either stop around the end of season two or just pretend that Thrawn never happened, as the spirit moves me, but until then enjoy and drop me some feedback if you'd like.

Ezra Bridger knew the day was off to a weird start when he found himself back on Lothal, spontaneously defending some old merchant from treason charges. It's not as if he was wrong anyway- the Empire _had_ made everything worse, and he'd never believed that hard feelings and rumbles constituted treason. Plus it offered him an excuse to screw with Aresko and Grint, and that was an opportunity he could never bring himself to pass up. 

"Commandant Aresko." As usual, the man jumped at the sound of his voice. There was no love lost between Lothal's Imperial government and the ISB, especially not among cowards like Aresko and Grint. The day those men put themselves in the line of fire for anybody would be the day Ezra swallowed his boot knife whole. 

"Agent Bridger," Aresko responded, trying to gloss over his reaction. "Or should I say _Trainee_ Bridger."

"Either way, still a higher rank than you," Ezra retorted smoothly, feeling a bit pleased when Aresko's face twitched. "If it's all the same, how about you stop harassing street merchants and we can begin our mission?" 

"Mission?" Aresko repeated incredulously. "I haven't been told about any mission, and this man was committing treason." Ezra made a show of shrugging carelessly. 

"Fine, if you want to prioritize one old man's angry remarks over stopping thieves from getting their hands on half a dozen crates of Imperial supplies, be my guest, but I know where I'm headed." He turned and walked off, leaving the other two to scramble after him, dropping the old merchant in the street. "Agent Kallus received a tip this morning that there would be an attempt to steal the supply shipment Officer Lyste is overseeing during transport. He's sent me planetside to prevent that from happening." That the tip had come from him and that he had no intention of doing very much to stop the thieves at all weren't details he decided to share.

Lyste was as abrasive as usual when they finally met up with him, snapping in his sneering voice that it was about time they got there. "We've got everything ready to go, and there's no sign of any trouble so far," he told Ezra proudly, all but shouting that he didn't need some incompetent teenager's help. Which was ironic, because that was the very moment when Ezra felt a presence in the back of his mind. 

This was the moment he had been waiting for. Grinning internally, he kept his face a blank mask as he surveyed his surroundings. One man, bearded and ponytailed, looked around suspiciously and Ezra felt his heart skip a beat- it was him. The man he'd seen in the dream. The man walked past a Mandalorian girl in a very custom suit of armor and tapped his leg. Ezra forced himself to remain calm and focused. It was starting. 

His careful focus was nearly broken when the Mando walked past a Lasat. He felt like someone had punched him in the gut. Lasan was still a painful memory. He was so shaken that he nearly missed them throwing their explosives but he had enough time to dive behind a crate when the bombs went off and everybody else went flying. 

Okay, this had gone on as long as he could allow it. They'd had a chance to get things off the ground and he had to give pursuit. If anyone besides Kallus ever got suspicious- well, the little pill weighing down his pocket would be the best he could hope for. He swung into action, kicking the Lasat off the speeder he had so recently commandeered and pulling it up short in front of the man. He grinned widely and let some of his amusement spill out into a laugh. 

"You want these so bad, come and get 'em." With that, he turned around and took off, knowing they would follow. They needed these crates too badly, and he had long since mastered the art of annoying people into doing what he wanted them to. He felt a thud behind him and spun, pulling his blaster at the same moment as the Mando. They stared each other down for a long second before the girl laughed.

"You're new, but you're not bad. Better watch out for the big guy though. If he catches you, he'll end you!" _And I wouldn't half blame him,_ Ezra thought, watching as she angled her blaster down and separated the rear crate from the speeder. He saw the man and the Lasat following him and gunned down Lothal's main highway. The remaining Storm Troopers chased them until, at a nod from the man, the Lasat fell back and made short work of their speeders, leaving him alone to face down the man he'd spent the last month looking for. 

He jammed the break and swung the speeder to a halt horizontally across the road, drawing his blaster and activating his arm shield. He left the blaster down, in his hand but not pointed at the man, as he drew to a halt, looking at Ezra curiously. "I think that's ours," he said mildly. "After all, we stole it fair and square."

"I think it's the Empire's," Ezra responded neutrally, "and if I let you get away with it my boss won't be too happy with me." There was a long moment of silence before he heard the whir of an incoming TIE fighter and grinned. "But then how will he know? You'd better get moving, that's my backup you hear." 

Looking startled, the man recovered quickly and blasted away, Ezra firing a few shots after him to make it look like he'd tried. The TIE sped off in pursuit and Ezra piloted the speeder and its remaining cargo back to the site, where Lyste, Aresko, and Grint were only now daring to crawl out from behind their cover. Lyste looked as though he was about to collapse. 

"We lost the cargo. I had thought you were here to secure it Bridger!" 

"That's _Agent_ Bridger, Lyste," Ezra responded coldly, sharp enough to cut. "And I suspected that something like this might happen." He allowed himself a grin, but this time it was more fierce than friendly. "That's why I had the blasters replaced with defectives before they left the warehouse. The full shipment is back there waiting to be sent out." A little of the color came back to Lyste's face, only to drain right back out as a shuttle landed and a very familiar face got off. 

"Agent Bridger," Kallus said as he approached them, using Ezra's official title instead of his name. "Report." 

"It was exactly like we thought," Ezra told him, snapping into parade rest. "They hit as soon as the shipment was ready to go. I saw three, one adult human male, one woman in Mandalorian armor, and one Lasat. They set off bombs to distract us and got away with four of the six crates."

"And you switched the cargo?" Ezra nodded. "Good. In that case, Officer Lyste, I suggest that you get the blasters on the move while the rebels are still occupied."

"Rebels?" It was Aresko's turn to look faint. 

"This is the fifth such attack that has taken place on Lothal in the last two months. I believe this is the coordinated action of a rebel cell, and I intend to stamp them out before they have a chance to leave the ground." Ezra's lips pursed faintly enough that none of the others noticed. He held his tongue; Kallus would only allow so much insubordination before he would act against him, and Ezra knew that he had already pushed the boundaries by allowing the rebels to escape with anything at all. 

The Imperial officials hurried off and Kallus and Ezra were left alone at the still-smoking scene of the robbery. Finally the senior agent turned to his adopted son and allowed himself a smile. "You did well, considering. It would have been better if we'd stopped it before it began." 

"If I'd known who they were before they even attacked people would have gotten suspicious," Ezra responded, knowing that Kallus would understand what he meant by 'people'- Lyste, Aresko, and Grint. "Besides, swapping out the blasters worked." He chuckled. "I would kill to see their faces when they realize they're all duds." 

"Most likely they're selling them to some weapons dealing scum," Kallus responded with disgust. "Their type always do. I suppose I shouldn't even ask about the food." 

"No, you probably shouldn't." Kallus frowned and snapped, 

"One day you're going to try something with someone that isn't me, Ezra, and what are you going to do then?" Anyone else would have been sent running by his tone but Ezra stood his ground. 

"Come on, give yourself a little more credit then that, dad. I'm not dumb. I know where the line is." 

"You don't act like it," Kallus muttered, running a hand over his face. "Why did I _volunteer_ to be a parent? What in the seven hells was possessing me?" 

"My charm and personality," Ezra answered dryly. "Or maybe a demon, I dunno." Kallus snorted. 

"Let's get back to the ship. If I'm right these rebels will be coming for the Wookies next. I'd hate to miss the meeting." Ezra stared off into the distance, furrowing his brow. 

"I saw him today. The man from the dream." Kallus froze. "He was one of the rebels." 

"Ezra, we've talked about this," Kallus reminded him sharply. "Leave it be. It's too dangerous." He knew that was a bit rich coming from him, and by the sound of his snort Ezra did too. He sighed. "Maybe I should pull you off this mission." 

"What? No!" Ezra yelped. "I helped plan this mission, I can't drop it now that it's finally coming to something!" 

"If we find what you think we'll find," Kallus retorted lowly, "then I will have to call in the Inquisitor. I will not let you anywhere near him." 

"You can't just ignore the rebels, you know that," Ezra pointed out. "You'll have to call him in eventually, and it would only make the Inquisitor more suspicious if he found out you pulled me off at the first sign of the- the man from my dream. If we proceed like normal he won't have any reason to notice me at all." Kallus was silent for a long moment, scowling at the ground as though it held the answers to his problems. 

"Fine," he said eventually, reluctance clear in his voice. "But you will stay away from them, do you understand? Engage from a distance only." Ezra grinned widely. 

"Understood."

"Now wipe that smile off your face," Kallus told him fondly. "You're acting like you just convinced me to let you stay up until three a.m." Ezra trailed after his adopted father as they went back to the shuttle.

"You _do_ let me stay up until three a.m."

"Only when we're working."


End file.
